Merging Secrets
by i'm not scared
Summary: What happens when, because of custom, Harry and Ginny get engaged at a really young age and the Weasleys and the Potters are forced to live together? Is the marriage just an attempt to hide the Potter's secrets?
1. Chapter 1

Hey guys! This was inspired by my history text. We're reading about Mesopotamia or Babylonia or something. I changed some things, though. I won't bore you guys with facts or whatever, just telling you how this popped in my head.

By the way, this is NOT placed in that time period. Please Review!!!

There were only four coins on the table. "What husband could we get this much?" Arthur Weasley whispered, pulling on his thinning hair. His wife, Molly, only stared at the money, her eyes covered with a veil of tears. Their youngest and only girl would someday need a husband, for that someday, they needed to find one now. They had plenty to offer. Good teeth, check. Good genes, check – that is, unless you dislike freckles and gingery hair. Even then, though, they were a family of mostly recessive traits which is good if you want your grandchildren to have all of the dashing good looks your child. Social status and wealth . . . That was really what was most important. What good family would give their son away for such a small amount? It'd be insulting to the poor boy.

Molly's mind instantly began to list all of the things that she could buy with that money, what her daughter, and her future son-in-law would be worth. _Cheap cloth, rotting vegetables._.. "Oh, Arthur!" she cried, "it's hopeless." He patted her arm as she pressed her face against his increasingly wet shoulder.

The only offer they had had for young Ginny was from Neville Longbottom. If they were to reject and not get any other offers, they'd have to use all of their four coins as an offer for another boy. Neville, though, was a nice boy, but so are many four year olds. Still, not too bright, he was also clumsy and without his poor tormented father's income, almost as poor as them. Their offer was only three knuts higher than what the dull coins on the table added to.

"Maybe, maybe we should accept the Longbottom offer." Arthur murmured. His wife's only response was to wail louder.

James Potter leaned back in his chair, frowning at the man across the desk. His old headmaster's eyes twinkled. _Proud of his manipulating self, I'm sure, _he thought. Still, for some reason, he gathered the papers to show them to Lily.

A week later, Arthur stared at his newspaper as though it had just jumped up and slapped him. The Potter's had been pursued by so many families, that they were going to have a sort of audition. Family status not needed, applications would be on _Honest, It's True! _testing paper, and would be submitted anonymously. If a child and their family would be denied, it would be for their lack of morals or personality, not looks or money.

His hands shook as he tore the article from the paper. Despite his tremors, he managed to tuck it in his breast pocket. Lifting his eyes, he peered through the hole in the paper to see his leering wife framed by advertisements. "What's going on?" she asked, her tiny hands placed firmly on her pear-bottom hips.

"Nothing. S-Something for work." He nodded. _That sounds realistic enough, _he thought as he rushed out the door to avoid anymore questions from his see-through-walls-and-into-your-head wife.

After work, he gathered the papers he needed for the Potter Auditions. _Little Harry would be a great husband someday. At least he has money and his parents have character._ He did not actually know that. He'd read the articles about them, heard what people said. So he had them painted, blurry, though, in his head. It was like finding threads and pulling them together to imagine the sweater. Three years ago, similar great things had been spread about Harry. _"Survived it, really he did!" _The memories tugged on his elated heart. That poor babysitter didn't survive, though. She was barely even mentioned in the paper. When a Potter walks by, that's all anyone sees. Forget the people with them.

Why had he thought that he had a chance when the entire world was fighting over this child? So many others were ordering the papers from the newspaper. There was such a crowd at the office where they were stuffed like a sausage ready to explode from its casing. Even people he knew had no relations to any children were shoving their way in and groping for the forms. Arthur hoped that there was some sort of age limit to protect the boy.

While locked in the bathroom at home, scoping out the forms, he found it on the bottom of the first page. "No one over the age of six allowed to be represented." He sighed and began to fill out the papers. Ginny's information, his information, and Molly's all rushed onto the cramped lines.

"Dad! I need the loo! You've been in there for hours!" Fred or George was making the door rattle in against it's hinges.

"I'll be out in a minute." He scribbled his signature and placed the application against his chest, under his undershirt. Having it there against his chest punctured his hope. _We probably won't win. But if we do, well, then I'll tell Molly. She couldn't possibly be angry then. _His mind painted images of the newspaper. A picture of little Harry holding hands with someone. Someone without red hair and freckles. Someone with money, despite everything.

His fist pounded the sink's ledge, "No," he hissed. "We deserve something good. Someone good."

That night, when he kissed the tops of his children's heads, he didn't feel like there was something else he could be doing to make things better. There was hope and for that night, he felt he gave it to them.

"The winning child will be contacted within six months."

And they were.

"Lily, I don't like this anymore than you do."

"I don't believe that," she snapped crisply, her arms folding.

"Okay, I do. Why's that bad?" James could see spots. She's been driving him nuts that week.

"Don't yell in front of Harry." Her eyes darted behind him to where the preschooler was proving to Sirius and Remus how he could count by 2's now.

"2, 4, 8, no . . . 6."

Thin hands pulled him into the "unused room." His body tingled with memories of the last time he was pulled in there, but he could tell by Lily's nails in his arm that this wasn't going to be fun like that time.

"You're pimping off our son!"

"Okay, no." He put up a finger and went on. Behind his voice, a child's could be heard, "9, wait, no" "What we were originally going to do, what everyone else is doing is pimping off children. 'Yes, Mr. Highest Bidder, please take my child'"

"It's tradition."

He waved his hands as if to get her attention. "You were raised in a muggle family! What do you even care about this tradition?" James had originally been pledged to a Anne Temple. Cursing, his mother made him pay the millions in compensation bills after he dropped her for Lily.

Lily's lips pouted, but he could see behind her angry mouth, the quivering tears in her eyes and sighed. That time of the month was too much for him sometimes. He left his wife to go check Harry's tie, and it fell into his hands. Mouth open, he looked at Remus.

"Clip-on?"

"A real tie isn't safe for a child." Remus drew out his words there as if James was this child he was talking about.

Slapping the tie into Sirius's hand he marched off to the foyer where one of the elves was opening the door.

"Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, welcome to the Potter residence." Woolby's long nose bunched up as it pressed against the marble floor.

James could feel his face stretch into a grin instantly. Off to the side, he could hear Harry squealing to be let go, and he began to chuckle. "Hi, I'm James."

"I'm Arthur and this is Molly. This is-"

The dark haired man stooped to one knee before a tiny girl, gripping tightly to a small pink suitcase with faded yellow flowers. "This little princess must be Ginny. Nice to meet y-"

The sound of tiny feet racing towards him didn't stop him from greeting his future daughter-in-law. It was the small child, the blur of black that knocked him from his precarious crouching.

"Daddy! Remy wouldn't let me come over here by you. Cuz I wanted to be by you, an' then Siris said, uh, Siris said that I need to have decaf. I don't need decaf!" His nose crinkled in defense although he had no idea what decaf was.

"Sorry." James looked at the in-laws and picked himself up, his son tucked under his arm. "He's," at a loss for words he stared off, " he's a boy." The red-haired couple laughed.

"Yeah, we have six of those ourselves."

Mr. Potter's eyes got so large that Molly wished she hadn't confessed that. Well, not that that was really a secret, but apparently something Mr. Potter didn't know. The wizarding world didn't have royalty, but the Potter's and their friends were as close as it got. _Royalty doesn't bother with the concerns of peasants. _Something in Molly fumed, even though _she_ had been the one to think that just then.

"Well, just the one's good for me." As if to demonstrate the young man kissed the top of his son's fluffy head.

"Six sons is a blessing, Mr. Potter," Molly spat. Mr. Potter's eyebrows seemed punctuated behind his youthful bangs, too high to be seen as anything more than black dashes. Normally they were a low finishing frame to his bangs.

"I bet." Something in his smile was rigid. Molly lowered her head, remembering who she was speaking with. People could be punished for wrongful or bitter attitudes, rude remarks or anything if it angered someone of a significant status. Mr. Potter eased a sigh out of his chest and closed his eyes. "You can call me 'James.' Same for the rest of us. First names. We're equals once the papers are signed."

The words cut some overly-tight strings in her chest. "Right," was all she could barely whisper. It was status only(she would have no riches, that was for Ginny if this worked out) still, it was more than she had hoped for. When she thought of that, her heart jumped a little. Her baby would be well-to-do!

"Your son is very handsome. Looks just like you." Arthur offered, like a peace treaty, hoping it was enough for the slight wrinkle between James's eyes to vanish. Only realizing a little late that it sounded like he may be hitting on James. His face was suddenly soaked to a deep red, his freckles almost drowned by the rush of blood to his face. _At least he knows it's not going somewhere else._

According to custom, Ginny was to move into the Potters. The first week, her parents could stay. The second week, the husband, Harry, would go to stay with the Weasleys, with his parents. After that, the two families would live together, at least on the same property – if that was what both families agreed to. This, though, was expensive. So, most times, the young couple would move into the husband's house. It was the second week before the Potters even saw the Weasley's residence.

"Oh," Lily whispered, her hand flying up to cover her lips. She hoped that no one heard that, but the stares told her otherwise.

"Mommy?" Harry tugged on her skirt. "Is their house falling over?" It did look that way. The stacks and stacks of floors reminded the boy of his blocks at home. Once they started to lean one way, that meant, for him, to start piling on more so that it could fall on the unassuming Lego people in the streets below.

Molly could hear her heart screaming angrily in her ear about the way the James and Lily were staring at the house. She opened her mouth to speak, but Lily started before her. "I'm sorry. That... I was just surprised that you . . ." she trailed off the house catching her eyes again. "I didn't know a house could be that tall."

That didn't help Molly at all. Harry piped up, "Mrs. Molly, if you're house falls over I'll help you build it again." Something in his tiny, still very baby-ish voice softened her. Her womb had held too many children for such a thing not to.

"Thank you," she whispered.

Arthur put an arm out, signaling for everyone to march in to the house. James was the last to pass by him. "I would like to offer you a new home," he murmured, his unlabored hand resting on Arthur's shoulder.

"Me?"

"You and the rest of your family. Our neighbor is selling their house."

Arthur stared, at the dark haired man, his mouth open and his eyes watered slightly.

James continued, "We were thinking of buying it for a friend, but he already has a house. A nice one." He paused and looked off at the yard just in time to see a gnome sprint into a hedge. "We could buy it and furnish it for you." When Arthur was about to protest, James interrupted him, "It would be easier on your daughter if you and your wife were close." That sentence moved like an eraser through Arthur's head. All he could think of was that his best had never been all that great, but if he were to lay down his pride and take up this offer... "Think about it, please." James turned back to the wobbly-block-house and Arthur saw his nose wrinkle and worry fly across his hazel eyes.

That look alone weighted down his spirits. Was this a genuine offer of kindness and concern? Or was his only concern "what will people think when they see that I'm connected to people who live like this."


	2. Chapter 2

Hey guys. The dream in this is, like in most real dreams, a little bizarre and is not to be taken literally. If you guys have any suggestions, like there's something you want to see in this, then feel free to tell me and I'll see if I can put that in. Thanks for reading! Please REVIEW!!!

Harry dreamed of playing hide and seek in his house with that Ginny girl and Siris. Siris covered his eyes with his hand and counted way past 15, Harry's all time counting high. He gripped Ginny's hand and they ran away from Siris, ducking behind a couch.

The children's giggles came out with each breath, but upstairs where Mommy, Daddy, and Remy were, there was screaming and shouting. Things that Harry didn't know about. Ginny shivered, and Harry patted her head, whispering, "S'kay."

Her hair was knotted and lumpy. When Ginny lifted her head, she smiled at Harry and he laughed. Getting up, he bolted down the hall. Siris still counted "Fifty-eleven, fifteen-ten..."

He ran like he was being chased by someone he loved down the hall and up the stairs, closer to the screaming.

In a very messy room, Mommy, Daddy, and Remy were screaming at each other in words Harry didn't know and couldn't remember when he woke up. "Stop!" he yelled to them. Only his mother did. She stood in the middle of the two wizards who kept yelling, their faces red like Harry's knees when he skinned them outside. "Stop!" he yelled again. Since he couldn't yell any louder, his voice got higher instead. Mommy lifted her wand and pointed it at Harry. Suddenly, his forehead split and he was on his hands and knees. His forehead bleed onto the mirrored floor. His image was covered by the pool of blood, and he feared that all of what he was would pour out and no one would notice.

Downstairs, Siris still counted, "twenty-thirteen. . ."

James didn't bother turning on the light, he just raced through the room and picked up his screaming son. The boy twisted in his bed as though trying to wrestle a fire off of him.

"Shh shh shh," James soothed, bouncing the still sleeping boy in his arms. "Wake up, Harry. Wake up." He put his lips to his head and kissed him. "Wake up." He still hadn't found an effective way of waking his son from these nightly terrors. Shaking him could be dangerous, slapping him just wasn't right. . . all he could do was swing him in his arms securely or bounce him, but that rarely did anything, until whatever hell had gone from his baby's mind.

Harry's eyes blinked open and he stared at his father in silence. "Hey," James whispered seeing the boy's bright eyes. Planting another kiss on his head, he sat on the floor with his son and rocked back and forth.

The darkness of the room and the hall outside of it hid the figure in the doorway until she spoke, "Another nightmare?"

James nodded, then unsure if he was seen said, "Yeah."

Lily leaned against the doorway, her eyes wet and her hand trembling.

"He's wet himself again, could you get some more sheets and pajamas?" He heard his wife walk away.

Lily walked down the hall meaning to get clean sheets and pajamas from the dressing room next door, but the whimpering from further down the hall pulled her instead.

A lump shook underneath Ginny's sheets, but stopped when Lily put her hand on top of it. "He had a bad dream, honey," Lily said softly. "Everyone gets those sometimes."

Ginny pulled the covers off of her head, "I want Mommy!" Sighing, Lily got up.

"All right." She pulled her robe around herself tightly and called for Woolby. "Get Molly."

Their house elf called Molly from her room, pulling on her satin sheets, and squealing that Mistress wanted her. Arthur sat up.

"What's going on?"

Molly pushed her arm through her robe, "Lily wants me."

"At this time?" he looked at the clock and rubbed his face, but did nothing as his wife grumbled her way down out of the room out of the house and across the yards to the Potter's house.

Woolby moved in front of her, always looking back and hurrying her up some.

James, Lily, Harry, and Ginny all greeted her in the lit foyer. Ginny, though, did so by colliding with her legs and crying, "Mommy!"

"What's going on?" Molly asked.

"Ginny wanted you." James said, his son still in his arms. Harry clung to his father's neck, his small face wet with tears, his body in a small blue bath robe.

"Why? What happened?"

"Harry had a bad dream and woke Ginny up," Lily simplified.

Reaching down, Molly pried the tiny girl off of her legs and put her in her arms. The two mimicked James and Harry's posture.

"Harry has B-A-D D-R-E-A-M-S every night," James added. "Normally we have charms up so that only we can hear it, but I guess we forgot." Molly stared at the young couple, only then seeing the bags under their eyes and the invisible weight of something crushing on their thin shoulders. She bit her tongue to keep from asking what it was. _Probably about You-know-who,_ she reasoned. Thanking the Potters, she carried her child across the dark yard, no house elf guiding her this time, and to her own bed where she and Arthur took turns singing to Ginny until she snored softly.

Around six the next morning, Remus was busy in a kitchen that wasn't his cooking a breakfast he wouldn't eat. James and Lily were asleep, finally, up in their separate rooms. They stopped sleeping together shortly after Harry was conceived. Harry sat on a high stool next to the counter where Remus stirred pancake batter.

Sirius strutted in through the door, looking behind him as he went. "You know," he paused and grabbed a mango from a fruit basket, "when you're outside you can hear that Weasley family. I mean it."

Remus laughed and added an egg to the bowl.

"I could still hear them from just outside the door here," Sirius continued, pointing through a wall to where the front door was.

"Yeah, big dirty Irish family," Remus laughed again. "I wish I was Irish. I think they must have more fun."

"No, it doesn't suit you. You should be a Swede or something. And you have plenty of fun." Sirius said. The sound of silverware dazzled the kitchen for a moment as Sirius dug around for something to peel the mango with. He gave up and bit a chunk out of it, spat that in the trash and then started peeling it with his teeth. "When did you get here?"

"Around five," Remus said turning to the stove.

Sirius slide beside Remus and whispered low and by Remus's ear, "Did she get mad?"

"No. I don't think so. I told them I was just here for Harry."

"Did she get mad at that?"

"I don't know, Sirius."

"She's scary when she's pissed," Sirius said, not whispering this time. He remembered when she found out what happened, she was quiet for an entire day and then she just blew it. The people in the portraits covered their ears. Only one bothered to say anything to her, though. Mrs. Potter, James' Mom, tut-tutted, "That's really no way for a lady to behave."

That's when Lily ripped her off the wall and flung it in the fireplace where she screamed and howled for nearly half and hour. Regret showed pink on Lily's face, but that didn't make her stop frowning or take back anything she said about Remus, James or unborn Harry.

There were times when Sirius thought that she wasn't incredibly distraught at living there. Her face would soften so that anyone who saw her would think, "That's right, she's beautiful when she smiles." She was looking at Harry every time that happened, though. Which he thought was weird since she swore to him when he asked, "No, I don't love that bastard child."

Arthur sat with his elbows on the table and his fist holding his head up. His children sat all round the table. Only Charlie, Percy, George and Ginny had spouses. All the others, he told himself, would find a nice Muggle-born to marry. His wife and him had been unable to afford spouses for Bill, Fred, and Ron. Just that morning while he was brushing his teeth, he thought that maybe the Potter's could help them in that area, too. But maybe he didn't want to ask for help.

Charlie was married to a poor half-blood named Claire, who had two blond braids and one bad eye that looked frosted over. Percy was married to a girl that had been from a Slytherin family that rejected the Dark Mark and lost everything. Her name was June. George was married to a starving artist's daughter, Crystal, and Ginny, of course, was married to Harry.

"When will I get a wife?" Ron asked shoving a forkful of pancake into his mouth, which left syrup dripping on his pursed lips.

"Not before me," Fred said.

"I go next, though. Right, Dad?" Bill asked.

"You will all get married to nice young ladies, I promise." He thought he saw Molly shudder at his promise. He wasn't sure if it was because he couldn't promise such a thing or because she hated the thought of there being someone that should be closer to them than her.

Clearing her throat, Molly said, "Speaking of which, it's about time for you to get back to your husband, Ginny."

"Nooo!" she squealed. "I wanna stay here with you guys!" She gripped the table as though someone was going to pull her away.

"I have an idea."

Harry was quick to pry himself away from Molly's grip and run around a few trees. He still beat Molly to her door, though.

"I win! I win!"

"We weren't racing, dear."

Ron was quick to grab Harry and chase him around the house. Ron had been the first to take to Harry by timidly showing him his room. _Their closer to each other than Ginny is to Harry, _Molly thought. But then again, on her visits home, her brothers seemed to like Arthur much more than she did herself.

The day was morning was uneventful for the Weasleys. Molly sipped her tea, and listened to the children's giggles and shouts, telling herself that everything was like before. _It's not, though._ A voice declared in her mind. _Where's the notches in the wall to show how tall they've gotten. Where's that drawing on the wall of the family that Fred somehow got to stick by the fireplace?_

"Mommy?" Percy curled up on her lap, wedging himself between her and the table. "Why do boys kiss each other?"

"They don't sweetie." Things like that she felt were best to deal with when they were much older. Or maybe she'd just wait until they found out from friends in school. No, who knows what they would tell her dear boys.

"But Harry says his Daddy does."


End file.
